Sunshine Coast road toll falls to 12 for 2015

Stuart Cumming
Reporter
Stuart studied journalism at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. He worked briefly at Central Queensland News and Warwick Daily News. He has worked as a reporter at The Chronicle since July 2009.

DECLINING fatal crash statistics have encouraged Sunshine Coast traffic police but they realise they have much more work to do to reach their target of zero deaths.

There were 12 people who died as a result of crashes on the Coast's road network in 2015.

Their tragic deaths have left immeasurable impacts on the lives of family and friends as well as the wider community.

But from a statistical point of view, 2015 was a year that showed road safety efforts on the Coast appeared to be having their intended effect.

There were 29 people who died on our roads in 2012, 25 in 2013, 17 in 2014 and 12 in 2015.

By comparison, state-wide totals were 280 in 2012, 271 in 2013, 223 in 2014 and 242 in 2015.

Nambour Road Police Unit officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Shane Panoho said a focus on community awareness of driving risks and responsibilities had been a contributing factor to the Sunshine Coast decline.

"We have certainly been very active in all forms of media to try and make people aware of the fatal five (crash causes)," Snr Sgt Panoho said.

"Our goal is to try and make it zero fatalities and we will do whatever we can through enforcement, education and engineering to try and make our roads as safe as possible.

"But we need a whole community response to achieve it."

He said things like drivers taking a bit of extra time to get to their destinations and having more situational awareness as to what was happening around their vehicles were key points.

While he was encouraged by the fall in fatal crashes, he was acutely aware of the impact the past year's deaths had on the community.

"If you ask any one of those families from the 12 fatalities they would give whatever they could to reverse the circumstances," he said.